Taqqiq's Journey
by ShadowBlaze524
Summary: Taqqiq was only a cub when Nisa was killed and he was seperated from Kallik. After this happened though, he went on the journey of a life-time, met unlikely friends and learned how to survive on his own. Join Taqqiq, on his adventure, meet Salik and his friends, and travel through the hardships to survive through Burn-Sky.
1. Prologue

**-Prologue- **

_All I could see was my mother's blood turning the ocean water to pink. "Nisa! Kallik!" I wailed. There was no reply over the endless stretches of ice. I looked out of the sea my mother and sister and just swum across but I couldn't see either of them through the fog. Nisa was sure to be dead, but Kallik, she could still be living. "Kallik!" I called desperately. There was still no reply, not so much as a glimmer of hope that I had any family left._

_I spun around and ran in the other direction. I could feel the warm tears welling up in my eyes. How could they be dead? They'd only just been swimming across to the next ice berg! What had gotten them?_

_I kept running until I got too tired to run any farther. I looked around for any good snow drifts to make into a den. There were plenty nearby but none of them looked big enough. Even so, I couldn't travel any longer to save my life. I padded over to the drift and pushed some shards of ice out of the way. I curled up on the drift with my paws over my snout._

_I didn't think I'd ever get to sleep that night. All I could think about was my mother's and sister's deaths. I'd never see them again!_

I'll just have to keep traveling until I find land_, was my last thought, before drifting off into a sleep full of nightmares and memories._

* * *

**Yeah… It's just a prologue, sorry it's so short… I'll update with chapter 1 as soon as I can! Well, R&R!**


	2. Leaving the Ice

**Chapter One**

**-Leaving the Ice-**

A few sunrises had passed since Kallik and Nisa's deaths. I'd tried not to think about it but every so often I could still hear the sound of Nisa's voice in my ears, remember past 'battles' with Kallik. Every time I tried hunting I thought about Nisa and the many hunting lessons she gave me. The worst part was that I didn't know how they'd died. What if whatever had killed them came back and got me too? I pushed the thought out of my mind.

I continued along the endless stretches of ice in front of me hoping I'd reach land before the ice melted. The fear of dying just as Kallik and Nisa had racked me again. _No! It won't happen! I won't let it happen! _I thought feeling determination replace the fear in my heart.

Suddenly my paws felt the edge of the ice forcing me away from my thoughts. I looked out across the ocean; I knew I'd have to swim across. I gritted my teeth forcing the thoughts of my mother and sister out of my mind. I jumped into the water, immediately feeling it soak through my fur making it feel like ice. The water was weighing me down making it harder and harder to swim.

It felt like moons before I finally reached the next iceberg. As soon as I got up out of the water I collapsed onto the ground feeling exhausted and broken. Suddenly and to my excitement a new scent hit me in a rush. I'd never smelt anything like it before in my entire life! What was it?! _Could it be the land?_ I wondered.

I decided I'd find out tomorrow. For now, I just needed to sleep before I continued. I didn't even bother making a small den to sleep in, or even finding a good spot. I just curled up right where I was standing and fell asleep within just a few moments.

* * *

I awoke the next day to the bright sunlight warming my white fur, reminding me that Burn-Sky was getting closer. I got to my paws and yawned still tired from yesterday's swim. I continued my walking none-the-less.

I never ran into any bears at all, didn't see one! If I were back with Kallik and Nisa I would've been glad of that. No bears around to steal our food and make us feel weak; instead it just made me lonelier than ever. I couldn't bear the thought that I'd have to figure out to survive on land on my own! I wasn't sure I'd ever be able to do it!

I wouldn't know what to eat or anything! I decided that wasn't the most positive thing to think about and forced other thoughts into my mind. I must admit, it was hard trying to think of something interesting to think about when there's nothing around you but normal white ice sparkling in the sunshine. The thing was, I couldn't think of living life anywhere else.

"I wonder what land will be like…" I said. Then realizing I'd spoken my thoughts aloud quickly looked around to make sure no other bears had heard. Of course there weren't any, I breathed out a sigh of relief. If any bear had heard me talking to myself like that, they'd probably think I was completely seal-brained!

The rest of the time on the ice wasn't too eventful either. I only saw one bear and he'd been dying when I met him. He was nice enough to give me directions towards the land before he passed though. It turned out I'd been going the right direction the whole time, I couldn't decide if that were good or not. What if I did die on land? I'd much rather die here on the ice with the spirits under my paws. I'd be with Nisa and Kallik again, happy among the stars.

I pushed those thoughts away. Death was not that answer! I was the only left of my family! I wasn't going to die too any time soon!

* * *

A few more days passed when finally I reached the end of the massive stretch of ice. Just as the dying bear had said, the land was close enough to see. There was a small expanse of water that separated me from the strange place before me.

I was reluctant to swim across. Maybe I should stay on the ice until I absolutely had to leave. When I looked up at the sky and saw the sun burning, it changed my mind. I had to get to the land as soon as I could! The land was right in front of me. I could easily swim across to it.

Forcing my paws forward I got closer to the edge before plunging into the water.

When I made it across the water to land and knew that I might've just taken myself one step closer to my death.


	3. Death

**Chapter Two**

**-Death-**

I'd been traveling through this strangely colored stringy stuff coming out of the ground all day and still had no idea what it was! It flitted around past my paws as I walked through it, and when the wind blew through it, it swayed in the direction the wind was going, much different than the ice I was used to.

Hunting on the land had been going great! Just the day before I'd caught a furry creature with big, long ears and a tail like mine, but a bit fluffier. Let me tell you, for land prey, that thing was _good_! Much better than the non-meat stuff I'd had to eat earlier that day!

Suddenly huge looming brown thing with roundish stuff at the top, that was the same color as the stuff on the ground came into view. I stopped dead. _What is that?_ I wondered. I felt my eyes widen with dread when I saw that this was one of many. I had no idea what kind of land animals could be lurking in there.

I stood there in front of it for what felt like an eternity before I heard a low grumbling behind me, "What are you doing, standing around like that?"

I jumped with surprise and whipped my head around to see a large male bear in front of me. I decided it would probably be better to not tell the bear that I was scared of these unmoving, seemingly lifeless things and answered him with my own question, "What are these things?" I asked, gesturing towards the tall brown thing a few bear-lengths away.

The bear rolled his eyes, "It's a tree!" he answered, "Don't you have a mother to tell you this stuff?"

I flinched as the bear asked that question. The memory of Nisa's death was still fresh in my mind. "Umm… No," was all I answered.

The bear snorted, "I'm assuming you want to get to the gathering, if you're coming this way," he said.

"What gathering?" I asked. I searched through my mind trying to think of one time my mother might have mention some sort of gathering.

"You know, all the bears stand around like a bunch of mindless lumps of fur and wait for the ice to come rather than do something productive."

I thought for a second. It didn't sound like much fun. Just sitting there, maybe I would've gone if I still had Kallik to play with, but I didn't. I was alone. I'd have nothing to do. Keeping the rest of my thoughts to myself I commented, "Sounds boring."

"Yeah, it is," the other bear growled.

"I guess you're not going to it then?" I assumed because of the bears negative attitude towards it.

"I don't see any point in it," The bear growled, "Why sit there when you should be trying to survive! No spirits will bring the ice back! What proof do we have they even exist?"

For a moment, I was horrified that this bear would defy the spirits like that, and then I realized he had a point. Nisa's stories didn't _prove _the spirits existed! They were just stories! They were nothing more than myth and legend. I shouldn't believe they're true! Sure, a white bear being chased around the sky by a bunch of stupid birds, get realistic.

I felt completely guilty of my thoughts. No! Those stories were our culture! Even if they weren't true, surely I could learn something from them. I shook my head trying to clear it, then when I looked around for the other bear, he was already walking away. "Hey wait up!" I called.

"What? I don't want any stupid cubs following me around! You'll just slow me down!" he snapped.

"I won't! I promise!" I assured him, hoping I was right. I hadn't really seen his walking pace before.

"You'll have to feed yourself!" he warned, "I need any other mouths to feed on this trip!"

"I can! I only want company! I'm sick of being alone!"

I heard him mutter, "Ugh… I can't believe I'm doing this…" before he replied, "Fine."

I was suddenly so much more cheerful when he agreed. I could finally learn more about the land, and then once this bear got sick of me, which surely he would, I could just leave, he'd have taught me everything I'd need to know!

"What's your name?" I asked, figuring I'd have to know his name if I were to travel with him.

"Everyone just calls me Death," he sighed. I wondered why. That couldn't be his real name; it was awful! What kind of mother would give their cub such a horrible name?

"I'm Taqqiq," I told him.

He didn't reply, just gave me a slight nod, to show me he'd heard.

* * *

A few days had passed; I was surprised Death hadn't already ditched me. Actually, he seemed to be taking a bit of a liking to me.

"Here," he said, tossing a bit of, what I'd learned was called a hare at my paws.

I hesitated, "But… You said I had to feed myself. You said you had your own problems."

"I've already eaten," Death replied motioning towards the remains of a goose.

"Oh…" I was still surprised. Why would've he had hunted for me?

When I looked up from the prey Death had already settled under a bush. "Eat," he ordered.

I paused a moment before obeying. I leaned down to the hair and took a bite. It didn't taste as good as prey I'd caught myself but it was still good none-the-less. I could taste the blood in the meat and knew that it was freshly killed.


	4. Could it be Kallik?

**Alright... Sorry for not updating in a while. I kind of stopped posting here, but I've already written this, and chapter four. I'm working on Chapter Five now. **

**READ BELOW THIS! IT'S PRETTY IMPORTANT!**

**I post this fanfic on the Warriors/Seekers official message boards as well and the members here informed me of an error in this chapter. It's been so long since I've read Original Arc. books that I'd forgotten that Kallik didn't meet the fox until Great Bear Lake. Please keep that out of your reviews. I know I made a mistake. I was actually tempted to just not post this chapter here, and re-write it, but the people on the message boards wanted me to start Chapter Four, so I kept it. I'll post Chapter Four as soon as I feel the need to do so. **

**Please ignore my mistake, and enjoy the chapter. **

**Less important: **

**A review on the fanfic said it was fast, I don't remember who posted it, I'll admit that it is. I'm pretty anxious to get Taqqiq over to Salik and friends because that's when it'll get more entertaining to read, as well as for me to write. xD **

* * *

**Chapter Three**

**-Could it be Kallik?-**

As the days past we met up with more and more bears all heading for the gathering. After what Death had told me about it I just couldn't believe that many bears were going! Death didn't seem surprised at all though! I guessed he was alone in thinking the gathering was worthless…

We were hanging out with this she-bear and her three cubs. One of them reminded me so much of Kallik I thought I was about to cry! I was able to hold it together though. I played with the cubs while Death and their mother talked about the gathering. I pricked my ears when Death told her how useless it was. Yeah! That should put her right! I thought, but the she-bear disagreed. I listened when she argued, "A lot of bears go to the gatherings every Burn-Sky! The ice is going to come back, and we have to be there waiting for it!" she paused, "You've established that you don't care for them, but some of us do! In fact, I saw a cub trying to get there on her own! The poor creature was talking to a fox!"

Could it have been? I didn't know, but I intended to find out. If this cub was Kallik then I had to go to the gathering, and find out! There was no way I was going to miss out on this opportunity to see my sister again!

Then I stopped, my excitement vanished as if it'd tripped and fallen into a bottomless pit of despair…

Kallik was dead.

What if she wasn't?

No. She had to be.

Death had finished talking to the she-bear after she'd said all that. He seemed rather irritated with her to be honest.

Well, as much as I wished Kallik were still alive, I knew she wasn't. I continued on with Death until the gathering got closer, and closer. Apparently more bears than I thought had seen this bear cub talking to a fox. She seemed to be the laughing stalk of all bears right now. The more we heard about her, the more she sounded like Kallik!

Kallik was just the bear who'd be dumb enough to talk to a fox!

I'd made up my mind. Even if the bear weren't Kallik it was worth looking! After all, what if it was? If Kallik was alive, and she was the one talking to foxes then of course I had to try and find her!

The only way to do that was to go to the gathering…

I thought about what Death had told me about the gathering, and agreed that seemed to be pretty pointless, but if Kallik were in there…

The problem was explaining this to Death… How could I tell him that I thought this crazy bear who talked to foxes might be my sister? Wait, no… A lot of bears went to the gathering…I could just tell him it was somewhere she could be.

It wasn't until the next morning that I told him. "I think I'm going to go to the gathering," I stated.

"What?" Death asked. I could see the surprise in his eyes, "I told you. The gathering is pointless!"

"I think you're right, but with the amount of bears going I think my sister could be one of them."

"You never mentioned a sister before," Death narrowed his eyes.

"I don't seem to remember you asking!" I retorted.

Death sighed, he actually seemed sad, and it made me feel bad. He'd been the only friend I had on this journey so far… I was throwing that away for the slight chance of seeing Kallik again…

It would be worth it if I found her.

"Just be careful cub," Death said. He turned and left, then stopped, and looked back at me. "The gathering is really close… Just head that way until you see a big group of bears," he jerked his muzzle towards the nearest bushes indicating that I'd have to go past them, then keep going that way.

Then he left


	5. Let All the Pathetic Bears Gather

**Chapter Four**

**-Let All Pathetic Bears Gather-**

Everywhere I turned there were bears. Some were mothers who were taking major precautionary steps in protecting their cubs. Others were more solitary, just sitting to the side watching all the other bears through narrowed eyes. There were some bears, however, who were talking and talking. Those were mostly older bears that seemed to have known each other for seasons.

I knew what I was here for, and I knew I had to find it. Otherwise I would have given up my only companion for nothing.

I began walking around the gathering just searching for any bear that looked at all like Kallik. It took a while before I saw a cub that looked about my age. Better yet, it was without a mother. It had to be her! I ran up to the cub, "Kallik!" I cried, but when the cub turned around, it just glared at me through beady black eyes. It wasn't Kallik. When I looked at it I felt stupid to have even though this cub was her. Its ears were rounded off differently that Kallik's were. Its fur was tinted with a bit of gray. This bear looked nothing like my sister.

I padded away with my head hanging. There were just so many bears… The same thing could happen with every cub I saw that seemed right.

I continued to look around at bear after bear. However, now I wasn't rushing into things hoping I'd just seen Kallik. Instead I studied each bear's features carefully before giving myself away. No bear seemed to be her though. I should have known Kallik coming here was too good to be true.

Death was right about these gatherings too. As I looked for Kallik I saw bears praying to the spirits, I saw others nibbling at what Death had told me to be grass, and I even saw bears talking to the water just asking it to freeze. That last one was the creepiest I saw during the gathering.

Two days of looking, but not finding Kallik went by. By this time I was ready to go, to move on with my life. My sister wasn't here, and I shouldn't be.

Every single one of the bears at this gathering was more pathetic than the next. With each passing day the bears were acting more and more pitiful. It was almost as if they didn't know how to take care of themselves. They acted like the ice-spirits help them. I'd never seen an ice-spirit do anything. Not help, not destroy, not anything. These bears were just getting to the point of being delusional.

It was a little scary even…

I shoved my way past these skinny, pitiful creatures until I'd gotten past the gathering. I hoped that if I hurried I might be able to catch up to Death again! That was if I was lucky.

Not that I'd had much luck finding bears I needed to see again lately. I hadn't found Kallik, and the likelihood of finding Death again was very low. I was on my own, and I needed to accept it.

I heard and felt a growl rumbling in my throat. If I were to be traveling alone then it was about time I acted like it! Death didn't trust me at all when he'd first met me, even though I was just a dumb little cub. I had to be the same. Trust no bear, no matter how big or small they may be. Even if Kallik were to show up, I shouldn't trust her.

That was when it hit me. Kallik was dead. I wouldn't run into her again. With that realization I had nothing to worry about. Kallik was dead, I wasn't. Since Kallik was dead that must mean that she was too weak to have reached the forest, or she was too weak to survive the forest after she'd made it. I was alone and I would survive!

It didn't matter if Kallik was alive or not! I was alive, and that was all I cared about.


	6. Fight to Friends

**Chapter Five**

**-Fight to Friends-**

A few days had passed since I left the gathering. I was still thriving on my own. I had mastered land-hunting by now, and I was starting to get used to the loneliness of traveling solo. It didn't even quite feel like loneliness anymore. It was constant. As the days went by I started to get more and more used to it. So used to it, in fact, that I actually felt extremely uncomfortable when more bears starting showing up along my path. It'd seemed like so much longer than I predicted it actually was since I'd seen other bears. It was weird.

It had been a normal day on my own when I met them. They had seemed so strong to me at the time. If it was because of the number of them, or actual physical appearance I didn't know. All I knew was that a large number of bears were confronting me as I bit into the latest piece of prey I'd victimized. They'd ordered me to give it to them, and I had objected. At that point they were all snarling at me, and I snarled back. I'd caught that hare myself! I wasn't going to give it up to these idiots! If they wanted it, then they'd have to fight me for it! That was what they did, too. A fight quickly started over the measly hare. I didn't see how it was such a big deal… If I'd known it would turn into a fight before I would have given to them, pretending that it was nothing, and that I could catch more in a heart-beat. As the fight broke out I knew that it was my own pride that stopped me from giving it up. Now that I'd defended the prey from them before I knew that if I gave it to them it would be a sign of weakness, of fear. There was no room for anyone who considered me a weak, stupid little cub. That was my main motivation of the fight.

I clawed bear after bear. I swung my paws around snarling. I'd never been in a fight before, and I really didn't have any idea what-so-ever of what I was doing. I saw a paw coming towards my face I bit into it, hard. The bear that had tried to make the blow at me let out a growl of pain. He obviously wasn't going to give in to a fight either. I tackled him, and as I did so another of the bears charged at me. I had no time to dodge. He crashed into me with full power, leaving me winded. I had nothing left to fight with when he pinned me to the ground. "You know," he growled, digging his claws into my fur, "You actually fought a lot better than I expected, and you were hopelessly outnumbered." I growled at this. I couldn't even tell at this point if he was insulting me, or praising me. Then he added, "If you were to join up with us you'd be unstoppable." He got off me and I scrambled to my paws. I then turned to face this bear.

"Just a second ago you were trying to steal my prey!" I said, "What would make you change your mind about fighting now!"

The bear looked me right in the eye when he replied. I couldn't decide if I was terrified or comforted by the fact that this bear seemed to slightly respect me. He obviously respected me enough to let me live, and then ask me to join his little group. "You defended that prey like you wouldn't be able to eat again, and you were outnumbered, and outmatched by us." I bared me teeth. Being outnumbered wasn't an insult, but being called outmatched definitely was. Looking at these bears a second time I realized they didn't look any stronger than I was. I really had gotten stronger from living on my own in an unfamiliar and harsh environment. The bear continued speaking before my anger could get strong enough for me to say anything, "You weren't a bad fighter against it either. You were pretty smart in biting his paw when he tried to attack you," the bear motioned towards one of the bears behind him. "You would be great at helping us in what we do. You would share prey with us, and travel with us to our destination." I didn't know where they were going, or if they were worth trusting. I didn't know what it was they did that they wanted me to help them with. I did know that I really was lonely. I was lonelier that I had even realized. It was the prospect of joining these bears that had awoken the feeling of pure loneliness within me.

I didn't think about it in the slightest. My reply was completely mindless. I felt like I'd finally found friends. "Okay," I said, "I'll go with you, and I'll help you on your journey." The biggest of the bears, who I'd now assumed to their leader nodded.

Time passed, and I kept going with these bears. We really did have a bit of a family going. It wasn't a good family was what I realized from this. Now I knew what it was they needed help from me to do. I couldn't decide if I was proud or ashamed to have become a bit of an expert at it. We hardly ever caught prey ourselves. Instead we stole prey from others. Female bears with cubs that couldn't fight back in fear of losing her cubs in the fight, lone cubs that were too weak to fight us, and even old bears that were also too weak and didn't even care enough to fight us.

I now knew that the lead bear's name was Salik. He was the biggest trouble maker I'd ever met. He wasn't a kind bear in the slightest. None of his companions liked him, they feared him. I wondered if I should too, but I still hadn't traveled with them long enough to find out.

I also knew were these bears were heading, and I wasn't too thrilled to find out where. Apparently they were going to another sort of bear-gathering. They were headed to some place called Great Bear Lake. I hoped the gathering there wouldn't be as boring, pointless, and pathetic as the last one I'd been to. The only positive thought I had about going to this gathering was that this time I wasn't going alone. s


End file.
